There was high drama at a funeral in St Thomas on the weekend when the son of the deceased man smashed the closed casket saying that he did not give them permission for his father to be buried.

A member of the Airy Castle community, where the incident occurred, said that the son went for a sledgehammer and smashed the coffin opened, requesting to see the remains of his father Cecil Elijah Thomas.

"The son go up a him yard fi a sledgehammer, and come back and start to beat the casket, mashing it up," a resident, who asked for anonymity, said. "And after that, then the whole family started to fight."

The resident said that the funeral continued, but when it was time for the burial, the body was taken back to Edna's Funeral Supplies & Services Ltd, the funeral home that conducted the service.

When the operator of the funeral home was contacted to find out why the burial was suspended, did not comment on the matter.

Thomas died on the December 22 last year at the Princess Margaret Hospital.